Double-Blind PanzerBlitz

Introduction

These rules are for a more realistic
form of PanzerBlitz, in which the players do
not benefit from their usual omniscient view of the
battlefield. In this game, each player uses his own set and
board, and a referee places enemy units on the player's
board only when they are spotted. This is
PanzerBlitz, not Panzer Leader,
so to start out with there is no opportunity fire, no
spotting by muzzle flash, and no combining fire and
movement, except for close assaults. See also Designer's
Notes.

Scenario Selection and Modification

Any scenario is
suitable, though (as in the regular game) some are more
interesting than others. When using a printed scenario,
divide the number of mines and blocks in half, and allow
half again as many turns--a 12-turn scenario becomes an
18-turn scenario.

Set-Up

The two sides set up on separate boards out
of sight of one another, and play under the attention of a
referee. The referee places enemy counters on the players'
boards when necessary. Experience has shown that the
referee does not need a third board of his or her own if
the two players' boards can be seen at once, and are in the
same orientation.

Spotting

At the beginning of each player's move,
including the first, is a spotting step for both players.
All units that can be spotted according to the game's
sighting rules are revealed, i.e. they are placed on the
enemy's board by the referee.

Fire

Fire then occurs normally. Units that receive
direct fire from an unspotted unit do not spot it, but they
do learn the strength and type of fire, and the hex from
which it originates.

Movement

Units move normally, one at a time. For
the sake of referee sanity, moves cannot be retracted.
After the player has moved all units desired to move, the
referee considers the moves in the order in which the
player made them and determines whether or not it would be
possible in light of the referee's knowledge of the other
player's board. If a unit has been moved in an impossible
way, e.g. into a hex containing a block, into an enemy unit
not eligible for an overrun attack, into an overstack of
friendly units, or out of a hex containing mines, the
referee deems that unit to have stopped at the point where
the infraction occurred. The player's board is adjusted to
reflect the unit's new position, and the next unit is
considered in turn. Note that, as in real life, pile-ups
can occur if, for example, an unexpected block is
encountered on a road. Note also that this rule requires
stacking limits to be observed during movement. After
movement has been resolved, units get to spot the enemy
units, blocks or mines that stopped their movement. (They
don't yet get to spot anything else that they might see
from their new positions.) These newly spotted units,
blocks, and mines are placed on the player's board. Mounted
units may then unload if desired. A unit that conducted an
overrun attack while carrying infantry may, if otherwise
eligible, retroactively unload the infantry in the hex from
which a PanzerBlitz assault would be made.
(See also original rules.) This is the only case in which
the player can do anything retroactively.

Close Assaults, Overruns, and PanzerBlitz
Attacks

These are then resolved normally.

Multiple Players on a Side

Different groups will
find different ways of handling this. One good house rule
is to allow the players to talk to each other, but not to
point at the board. This minimizes talk, and lets each
person play his own part of the game.

Designer's Notes

These rules, like the original
PanzerBlitz rules, are certain to provoke a
barrage of "You mean I can't..." questions:

"You mean I can't use those great Panzer
Leader rules like opportunity fire, fire-and-move,
and spotting units by their muzzle flashes?"
That's right, you can't. And it's not because of the
double-blind rules -- you can't in regular
PanzerBlitz either. (Players should be sure
they understand the original LOS/LOF rules; the Examples
card is very instructive.) Moreover, given that either
system is a simplification, I'd say that the
PanzerBlitz rules are closer to being correct.
Only the German 88 was made to fire at a moving target --
and imagine hand-cranking the turret of a T-36 around to
take aim at a half-track barreling across your
field-of-view. I don't agree that muzzle flash provides
enough information to allow a shot back, though it may (as
in these rules) identify the type and general location of
the firing unit.

"You mean I don't even notice units moving past
me?"
Ideally, you should probably be able to if they spend half
(or a quarter) of their movement points in the view of any
one of your units. However, such a rule creates a
refereeing nightmare of constantly faking spotting so that
the moving player doesn't know when he's being spotted an
when he's not. It's not worth the trouble, because it
seldom makes any difference: people move from bush to bush
anyway, and they get spotted when they try to move into an
occupied bush, which happens pretty often.

"You mean when I'm moving I can't see what's up ahead
as I go along?"
No, you can't. PanzerBlitz makes you the
battalion commander, and if you tell units to advance, they
should advance if they can, not second-guessing you every
step of the way. Also, it's hard to see what's in those
hexes. If you don't believe this, try driving on the
Washington Beltway. Notice that people seldom react to
anything more than 250 meters (1 hex) ahead, even if
they're going at 25 miles per hour in rush hour.

"You mean he can stop my tanks with trucks?"
For one turn, yes -- as in the original game. I don't find
this as bad as most people seem to: some dark shapes in the
woods up ahead would make anyone hesitate.

The main thing to keep in mind about these rules is not how
they compare to perfection, but how they compare to the
regular rules, in which everybody knows everything. With
perfect knowledge of the enemy's deployments, people are
able to avoid mines, blocks, and getting stuck in the open.
One can play PanzerBlitz for years without
ever seeing an overrun attack, much less the
PanzerBlitz Assault from which the game takes
its name. One certainly never sees a traffic jam at an
obstacle, or units running into a trap laid with AT guns,
even though these things happened constantly in the real
war. They happen in this game.